Amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s aggressive pursuit of missiles carrying nuclear warheads, Japan’s ruling party has stepped up calls to boost the country’s missile defence in what some experts see as a move to gauge reaction from the…
Amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s aggressive pursuit of missiles carrying nuclear warheads, Japan’s ruling party has stepped up calls to boost the country’s missile defence in what some experts see as a move to gauge reaction from the public and regional powers, including the United States, about the potential adoption of strike capability. There’s speculation Pyongyang may push ahead with a sixth nuclear test and keep test-launching missiles in an effort to improve its nuclear and missile programmes. Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party has proposed introducing an advanced US missile defence system known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, or THAAD, and other latest military assets in the country, as well as acquiring the ability to strike back at an enemy base, such as with cruise missiles. LDP lawmakers versed in security affairs say they were highly alarmed by the simultaneous firing March 6 by North Korea of four missiles – three of which landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone – and Pyongyang’s announcement that the action was a drill simulating a strike on US military bases in Japan. “North Korea’s provocative acts have reached a level which our country can never overlook,” the LDP Research Commission on Security said in a proposal filed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on March 30. China immediately criticised the proposal, apparently concerned about Japanese military buildup and the possibility that proposed measures could also be used against Beijing.
